Heartless in Red
by Edge S.G. Maverick
Summary: Roman Torchwick, finally going through with an all out attack on people far too used to peace, realizes that maybe even villains need standards. Following him and Ruby as they grapple their moral compasses and what rules should be broken by whom.
1. Chapter 1: Guilt Trip

Roman sat in his chair, twirling a pen in one hand and reading through a familiar set of files in the other. Roman was beginning to feel the weight of his actions, the conscience that lurked deep within him started to rear its head. He had been given a direct order: Kill Ruby Rose. But ever since that night with kitty cat and the monkey, he was really wondering whether Little Red deserved the firework to the midsection. After all, the kid was hardly fifteen years old right?

He was Roman Torchwick, "Gentleman Criminal Extraordinaire" evading authorities for years without a hitch. This '_task'_ that Cinder was assigning him to be akin to stealing candy from a baby. As the hour passed, he fought with himself further. In any case an order was an order, and he dare not question Cinder herself. He began to lean over his desk, his fingers entwined and holding their place just below his nose as he stared intently at Ruby's picture on the map.

"I can't believe I'm feeling guilty about this." He said to himself in the dark of his own warehouse. The door creaked open and as Roman spun around the slender form of Cinder Fall walked out from the darkness.

"Roman, you do intend on going through with our little deal, don't you?" She said as the moonlight shined onto her, a glowing ember in the dark.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get the mutts ready in an hour or so, I want to get her when she's vulnerable." He replied sardonically.

"That's wonderful. I don't want to see anymore failure from your end Roman. Your time for fulfilling your end of the deal is running short."

A moment passed between them and Cinder turned to leave, seaming purposely seductive even in her disappearance and half way through the doorway stopping to state, "I'm trusting you'll do well Roman." then passing the rest of the way through and slamming the door closed behind almost as if to crush any hypnotic hold she might have had over the thief. Tonight though, things were changing in that head of his, and his thought were focused only on what kind of night he was about to ruin for the girl.

Miles away, across the City of Vale and upon the Emerald Cliffs, inside the Academy of Beacon Ruby sat atop her makeshift bunk bed. She had stayed up late to get a bit of her homework done and was beginning to grow tired, her yawns becoming more and more demanding. She had finished the work in question only moments before and was currently putting her books away when she started to catch things on the radar of her combat heightened senses. She looked around her the lurking darkness of nightfall obscuring her vision, her fellow teammates in their sleeping states revealed by the only dimly lit candle in the room. She stepped silently towards the window to grab Crescent Rose, the sound of wind heightening in volume every second.

"Guys, wake up. I sense something really weird about something." Ruby said, loud enough to wake up her allies. The rest of the group quickly made their way from their beds when they saw that their leader was holding her weapon.

Yang was the first to react, grabbing Ember Celica and standing at the door in waiting. Weiss refused to take the situation entirely seriously at first. Blake was donning her outfit as quickly as possible, knowing these kinds of situations on a personal level and getting similar feelings as Ruby.

Suddenly the figure of a Bullhead Transport came into view and with it the flares of Romans cane, the blasts flying through to window, shattering the glass and throwing Ruby through a wall and into the hallway.

Yang turned around in time to see the image connected to Ruby's screams of pain.

"Ruby!" She yelled before firing her own flares from Ember Celica.

Two White Fang members, one on each side of Roman, dropped to a knee and knocked each of Yang's flares out of the air, "Sorry, not this time kid." Roman stated as he fired upon the floor beneath her, caving it in and bringing down both Yang in her unsuspecting rage and Weiss in complete obliviousness, both of them being crushed by drywall, brick and shattered glass. During this, Blake took her chance to run past Ruby and go after the heart of the problem.

Ruby herself was, at this time, sore and ill equipped, currently being half way through a wall she decided she needed to keep her distance, so she unveiled Crescent Rose's full form and began firing upon the Bullhead.

Roman stepped into the vehicle, letting its armored walls take the shots fired by the sniper-scythe and began giving out commands in light of the new situation, "Corner Little Red, preoccupy her little friends and start up the auto cannons, everyone is a casualty as far as I care." He said through his communicator. Blast upon blast of the 50. Caliber rifle hitting the side of the armored vehicle, leaving dents in the armor and leaving quite the light display from the sparks coming off of its tungsten steel exterior.

Blake in the meanwhile was on her way to the floor above taking out guard after guard as she traveled to the floor above and got a sight of the Bullhead from another window amongst the hallways... "I've got you now Torchwick!" She shouted as she jumped on top of the bullhead with a loud thud and started carving through its roof.

As if shouting out her attack and practically crashing into the vehicle wasn't enough, Roman saw her blade and began to aim his Melodic Cudgel were he knew she would land. Blake, after making quick work of the vehicles armor and falling through met the smoking end of Torchwick's muzzle just in time for a blaze of fire from Roman's weapon.

"Ahh!" She screamed and fell to the floor of the ship, scorch marks bedding themselves upon her face and forcing one eye shut. She slowly began to pull herself but was interrupted by being kicked into the metal wall by Roman.

"Did I say you could get up Miss Kitty?" A grin streaking across his lips.

"You heartless bastard!" She said as he flipped his cane so he was holding it by the muzzle end.

"Meow…" Was the last thing she heard him say before he took a baseball-bat swing to her temple, handle first.

"Tie her up." He commanded before jumping off the craft and landing onto the now pelleted and destroyed building.

"_Ruby has been captured sir._" Was heard through his communicator.

"Bring her to me." He replied with haste then looked upon the destruction he had dealt to the room. Photos torn, pillows demolished, but there was one sight, a small Beowolf plush doll, a bullet through its head, that struck Roman good. His heart began to ache at the sight, the realization that he was the big bad wolf.

Within the next couple minutes Ruby was slouched in front of him, White Fang surrounding him on all sides. He had given himself the time to put away his regrets but was fighting a losing battle. That didn't mean his subordinates had to know.

"How does it feel Red? To see all your dreams crushed before your eyes?" Roman grinned as he tipped her head up by her chin and said this to her.

All she did in reply was stare as tears began to form in her eyes, something in Roman shattered at that, and he reeled back and leaned on his cane.

"Today… Today it ends…" He spoke, desperately trying to stash away his emotions.

He lifted his cane toward her, holding his head in pain as he did so.

"Today all the light in your world burns out…" He growled through a searing headache.

He leaned forward and put Melodic Cudgel to her head.

"Today I… Kill… Damn it all!" He shouted as his better half realized his folly, his pettiness at pointing his dear Melodic at a girl not even old enough to date.

He pulled away his cane and faced away from the teary eyed little girl.

"Why are you hesitating? Are you realizing you're the bad guy?" Came the words of Ruby as she tried to be brave.

Roman turned around and mouthed the word '_maybe'._

"Call off the attack, the whole damn school will be on us in time if we let them, let's get the hell out of here." He then walked out and jumped onto his ship, slamming the inside of the door as he jumped on.

"But Sir?!"

"You heard me! Get the hell in here, unless you all want to die!" The troops then all retreated leaving the building vacant and after much distress, the cold night air silent.

Soon after, Team JNPR charged into RWBY's dorm room.

"Ruby! Are you… O-oh my god! Ruby are you alright!?" Jaune exclaimed as he ran to the tied up, beaten, crying girl and looked up towards her line of sight to see the Bullhead getting away.

Hours later, after some cleaning up of the sight and the retrieval of Yang and Weiss, Ruby is found sitting in between the beds of her unconscious allies.

"Why did he do it?" Ruby asked Ozpin as he walked into the infirmary, not even looking up at him in her depression.

"Most likely to scare us… I do believe that it's worked, your other teammate seems to have been captured. Looks like you'll be going it alone for a while Ruby." Ozpin stated with tenderness in his voice.

"Do you think we can get Blake back?" Ruby replied.

"I'm not letting you go to rescue her Ruby." Ozpin answered sternly.

"Why not?!" Ruby complained to her superior.

"Because you'll lose." Ozpin stated with emphasis and stress in his voice.

"Fine!" Ruby said before running out the door. Ozpin looked dejectedly at the door before thinking to himself, "_I'm sorry Ruby, but I just can't lose a student to that monster."_


	2. Chapter 2: Fateful Meeting

Roman sat upon the ship, wondering how he was going to explain himself to Cinder.

"You, with the tail." He called for one of his guards. "Prepare the girl for transfer."

The guard gave a salute and replied, "Yes Sir."

Roman got up from his seat as said guard stooped to pick up Blake's unconscious body.

The Bullhead slowed down and landed, its door dropping to reveal a very expecting Cinder.

Roman walked down the ramp with a professional look on his face, "_Come on buddy, you've done this before."_

"Hey, Cinder, how are you doing this fine evening?" He said, narrowly avoiding a crack in his voice.

"Is Ms. Rose dead yet Roman?" Cinder said, her eyes staring through him.

"About that, we do have the cat that interrupted our plans earlier, if that's any consolation?" Roman replied quickly.

Cinder eyed him up and down as if judging his stance and then took a couple steps to look behind him at Blake, "I'll be taking the girl then." she stated as she waved a hand for Mercury come grab the girl then looked to Roman again, "Roman, I am truly disappointed."

Roman looked her in the eyes, "Oh really? When did you get the right to push me around anyway? I don't remember you doing any heists, or hiring any henchmen, or even designing any plans for that matter. You owe me Cinder, and I'll take my damn time catching them if I want to."

"_Why did I do that…?" _ He thought to himself.

Cinder's eyes began to glow a fierce and fiery orange-red. She inched closer to the orange haired thief. "What was that you said, _pet_? I didn't quite hear you over the crackling of my flame." She then took a quick step forward and placed a hand to his stomach.

"Yes ma'am, I'll get going then, don't you worry." Roman said his hands up and his eyes focused on the hand currently scorching his jacket.

"No you won't, you'll be sleeping on the streets until you can make it up to me." She said as her flame started to creep up Romans jacket.

Roman was beginning to feel the heat pour through his clothes and was ready to panic when suddenly the rain started.

"Have fun, Roman." Cinder said before giggling and walking away from the man, letting his entire jacket light on fire.

"Ahh! Shit, shit, shit!" He shouted as he struggled to remove his tight fitting jacket and tossing it to the ground, knocking off his hat at the same time.

Cinder and her allies disappeared into the darkness of their warehouse.

"I don't need you any way; come on mutts." Roman said to the White Fang members still sitting there with the Bullhead.

"Sorry Sir, but that was the last mission on our contract, you want more help then you're gonna have to finish our deal." The captain said.

"What! At least give me a ride back then!" Roman pleaded with little progress.

The captain then backed into the Bullhead and pressed the button to close the ramp, watching Roman as the ship took off. Roman was left in the pouring rain with most of his dignity stripped away. The rage welling up inside him quickly turned to apathy and nostalgia.

"_When it rains it pours I suppose" _He thought to himself, then leaned down to grab his hat and place it on his head, lighting a cigar and walking off, back to the alleys he used to call home.

"Come on Melodic, it's a long walk to the bar from here." His mascara running from the rain.

Meanwhile, in Beacon, "Ruby, I'm sure that she's alright, what's the worst that could happen?" Pyrrha began.

"They could kill her." Ruby replied, hysteric cracks in her voice. "We need to save her."

Jaune leaned over his bed and looked at Ruby, "I don't want to be negative about this, but why would they keep her alive? It's been hours and they haven't suggested a ransom."

Ren replied quickly, "Jaune that was _very_ negative.

"I'm gonna save her." Ruby said before grabbing Crescent Rose and standing up.

"What about Ozpin?" Nora said hanging upside down off her bed.

"I don't care what Ozpin has to say." Ruby answered, walking towards the door.

"It'll be dangerous." Ren said with worry.

"I fight monsters." Ruby answered, frustration building in her voice.

"It's raining outside." Pyrrha pleaded from the floor.

"I have a hood." Ruby answered as she opened the door.

"Your our friend, we-" Started Jaune before being interrupted.

"And she was mine." Ruby said before slamming the door shut behind her and leaving Beacon. She took the first airship down and then walked into the city, hood up and cloak surrounding her.

"You might hurt yourself Ruby, it's raining Ruby, yada, yada, yada... They treat me like a _kid_." Ruby began talking to herself as she walked down the lonely streets.

"I'm sure she's fine, I just have to find her, right?" Ruby said, shifting subjects with herself as she walked. "Just gotta do what the super heroes do right? Just patrol the back alleys for bad guys until one of them knows a guy." She then looked to her left at the start of an alley_**.**_

"Right?" She slowly walked into it, beginning to feel nervous, until she heard the sounds of battle and began running to the location.

Much deeper into the inner city, was Roman, "What are you three looking at?" He stated to the three thugs staring him down, baseball bats in their hands.

"We're gonna clobber you, fag." The leader said, puffing out their chests as if to symbolize their dominance.

"Is that so? And I suppose one of you knows how to fight as well?" The thief said while preparing to counter attack, simply a subtle change in footing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The taller one said.

"Should I buy you a dictionary?" Roman stated, a hint of fun in his voice.

"Oh, that's it, we're taking you down punk!" The last one shouted before running towards him and attempting an overhead swing of his bat. His reflexes were no match for Roman on the other hand, as he pulled the bat out of his hand with the handle of his cane and then kicked the man in the gut, bringing him to the ground.

The taller one came next, also trying overhead, but not fast enough as Roman caught the bat, used it to pull the thug past him and then tripped him with the cane.

The last and leader of the thugs then attempted to side swipe him, which Roman deflected and stepped on the thugs foot and then stepped forward to put Melodic to his chin, rifle end first.

"Drop your weapon." Roman said with anger.

"No way man." Replied the thug, frozen in fear.

"Have it your way." Roman then punched the guy in the stomach forcing him to hunch over, then beat him over the head with his cane, knocking him out as well.

"So much for those ones then." Roman said.

"Not so fast!" Was shouted from behind him, but before he could react, there was a rather large blade to his neck.

"_Who's this poor sap?" _Roman thought to himself before seeing a single red petal land on the blade. "Little Red?"

Ruby tightened the grip, drawing some blood from Roman's neck.

"Where is she Torchwick?" Ruby growled at him.

Roman smiled the most dastardly of smiles, "Let go of me and I'll tell you everything your pretty little ears want to hear."

Ruby reluctantly pulled Crescent Rose from his throat and backed up, "Speak."

Roman turned around and bowed his head before rising and answering her,

"I'll tell you everything and more…"

**AN: I would like to thank NeverCameUpFromTheRabbitHole for being another fan of Roman who gave me confidence that this would be an acceptable story as well as my Beta for formatting this. There will be many more chapters to come from this, chapter three is already in it's infancy.**


	3. Chapter 3: Law's Mirage

The alley intersection was far removed from the main streets of Vale, well into the dark crevasses of building where windows ceased to peek and the rain had a hard time reaching them. Torchwick knew of his situation, and it's advantages, taking this time to explain his situation up to this point before finishing, "Ruby my dear, I'm afraid to say I'm no longer your enemy in this lonely world of which we live."

"How do I know you're not lying?" Ruby said with a shake in her voice.

"Because, I've got nothing to lose and it looks like you need to much help to question me." He said with and interested raise in his eyebrows.

"What are you implying?" Ruby backed away out of fear of the idea.

"That we team up of course. I know where the kitty cat is and you have the firepower to get her back, and I know your team is a little preoccupied at the moment."

Ruby frowned at the mention of her teammates condition, "Where is she?"

"Na ah ah, let's not be hasty here, we need a plan, right?" He then put his hand out to shake.

"Yes, in order to save her." Then shook his hand, sealing her fate.

"Let us go then Ms. Ruby Rose, I believe revenge is calling to us it's name, and it's name is Cinder Fall." He then began walking past her, urging her to follow.

And so they went, traveling through the downtown of Vale, making use of every shortcut Roman knew of. They passed by slums and homeless shacks, destroyed dumpsters and deteriorated windows of years and eras forgotten. During their time the world began to seem darker, viler, cruder. The world of fairytales that Ruby knew was falling apart in front of her as Roman described the lives of the people they passed by.

"See that one there? He was a cop a couple years ago, dropped him like a rock when they found out he was leaking criminal activity within the force." Roman at this point was walking backwards through the twists and turns as to get facial recognition and response to his statements. "That one, with the eye patch and the peg leg? He's no pirate, no. In fact, he was a victim of torture, Junior had his way with him a while back when he couldn't pay off his debts."

"Junior?" Ruby spoke up amongst the tragedy.

"He's a mafia boss of sorts, the kind you don't want to find in a back alley. Without an appointment that is." Roman chuckled to himself and his morbid sense of humor. "There's a world of disappointment waiting for you in here my dear." Roman finished.

"It doesn't have to be that way you know…" Ruby tried to talk up her stance. "We can fix it you know."

"You're right too." Roman said, beginning to wish for her rose colored glasses. "The question is… How far will you go to end it?"

Eventually they reached a stop in their gruelling travels through the cold night and came across a club. Ruby looked to Roman with confusion, "Why are we here?"

"Remember the poor schmucks you kicked to the curb at the dust shop?" Roman replied.

"Yes?" Ruby wasn't quite catching where this was going.

"This is where I got them, as well as many other things." Roman said before opening the door, base feeling their ears as it lingered.

"Oooooh… That makes sense." She said as she walked through the held door. Walking through was something different though, she plugged her ears almost immediately from the blaring noise that came from inside. Roman hurried her forward, "Don't worry, the ear wrenching fades sometime after you reach the bar." Ruby made herself step forward until she reached the bar, Roman's words proving true and her beginning to listen in on him as he talked.

"Hey Junior, long time no see, huh?" Roman began.

Junior looked to Roman with a look of business on his face, "Is that always how you introduce yourself to a man after you get done wrecking six of his henchmen?"

"Of course not, but I paid for them fair and square-" Roman was interrupted.

"That's the girl who did it, isn't she?" Junior put up a pistol towards her, but as Ruby realized what was going on Roman had already replied by pulling the pistol down.

"She's not for sale." Quickly answered the thief.

Junior looked around him and then asked his henchmen to fill in, "Tie up the girl, she'll make a pretty penny."

"I said no Hei!" Roman said before belting him across the face and knocking the man to the floor. Roman didn't stop there though, he jumped on top of him and grabbed something out of his jacket before punching him one more time and then running. "Let's go Ruby!"

"Uh, yeah!" She said before following, the music screeching to halt and the club converging on them as they made their escape.

The two burst through the door and Roman closed it quickly, "Red! Throw me the chair!" he said, pointing to the chair next to the smoking area. Ruby said nothing, only throwing the chair to him and then giving him covering fire to slow down the horde of minions.

Roman grabbed it and slammed it off the asphalt, snapping the legs of the chair off, "Now! The door!" He yelled.

"Got it." She replied before using her intense speed to show up next to the doors and smash them shut, followed by Roman throwing the legs of the chair into the handles.

"Let's go, even a metal door won't last long against that many people." Roman stated very rushed before jogging to an apartment complex fire-escape and climbing up, Ruby soon following.

"Where are we-" Ruby began and was then interrupted by Roman, "Shush now, they never look up."

Much quieter now, Ruby started to speak, "Roman, did you just save me?"

Roman's eyes quickly took a look of shock, although he was turned so that Ruby wouldn't see it. He pulled out his last cigar and lit it, "Don't think _too_ hard on it kid, I'm your partner right now aren't I?"

"I guess…" Ruby looked to the floor, wondering to herself now, wondering what was lying behind his cold eyes. "Why do you steal Roman?" She said, almost to herself.

Roman faced toward her and they both sat down, "You wanna know why I steal?"

Ruby looked up, "Yeah, why do you break the law, hurt people, run from the cops?"

"It's simple really, I do it to protect people." Roman began, wondering to himself why he was unveiling his emotions to a little girl.

"How? How was what you did to Blake protecting people?" Ruby got emotional at his response.

Roman ignored her comment and threw her the things he just took from Junior, "These are all the activities of Junior's gang in the past month. With these I can get the largest criminal underground in Vale. All evidence to what he's done."

"But why wouldn't you do that as a cop?" Ruby pleaded.

"Would a mob boss let a police officer that close to him?" Roman replied and blew his smoke in her face.

"I suppose not…" Ruby said, a look of confusion wisping across her face.

"You're beginning to understand, now let's get some rest." He put out his cigar and layed down where he was.

"Right here?" Ruby whined.

"Yep, welcome to my life." He stated before he closed his eyes.

"Goodnight… Roman." Ruby said, spending her time as she attempted to fall asleep reflecting on what she was doing, a mix of excited and scared.


	4. Chapter 4: Begin Preparation

**1 WEEK LATER…**

"I said, where the fuck is she!" Yang screamed at Ozpin, her hair and eyes ablaze.

"And I said I didn't know, there's not much more I can do besides send a search party, and do you know how that would look? Students would panic, we don't need that kind of chaos running rampant in here, I've already told the police and all staff have been put on patrol duty as of three days ago." Ozpin said, obviously angered but still calm in demeanor.

"I'm already in a panic! Just let me gather a team, I swear I'll find her, I swear on my grave dammit!" She then punched the desk, holding back as not to break the table.

"Panic won't help the situation, you _must_ calm down." he said with a caring tone in his voice.

"I can't sit back and do nothing," she then grabbed the man from over his desk and pulled him close to her face, looking intently into his eyes. She fought for words to say, opening her mouth and forming only short bestial growl before setting the man down and burning out.

The man still being just as collected as he was before, sat back in his seat and looked with sadness at the scene before him. The yellow beauty wiping away tears with her forearm and simply walking out, defeated and broken, unable to do anything for her little sister and feeling the world fall around her as she walked, and for the first time, her violet eyes turned blue.

'I'm sorry' was the last two words Yang heard before walking out of the room and bumping past the waiting members of JNPR.

JNPR had ideas of their own for what their leader felt he helped cause, but after the fiasco they had just heard, made a change of plans. Nora, not having the patience to wait until emotions past, started the conversation, "I say we don't make a ruckus of it and just search for her in secret."

"We'll need to go on our own, if we involve Yang or Weiss they're bound to tell others." Ren stated in his normal fashion.

"That sounds like a plan, but where do we start for such an investigation?" Pyrrha asked in honest wonder.

"We follow the pattern," Jaune answered. The whole of the group stared in shock as he said that so fast. "It's simple really, if we find out where Torchwick frequents then we'll find him in no time. He sounds like the kind of guy that would have a drinking problem right? Let's start with bars, if we can catch him when he's not sober than we just might have the drop on him."

Ren was the first to realize the obvious as he stated, "We should continue this where there's less of a chance that people will hear us."

+_That has a good point, we should go before someone catches on._+ Pyrrha was shown saying before the TV was turned off and Ozpin waved for Oobleck to sit.

"When do you plan on instituting the Ironclad?" Oobleck asked his leader.

"In good time Bart, we're going to need better funding if we intend on carrying this out though, do you think you can manage that?" Ozpin asked, facing away from him in his chair and drinking his coffee.

"Yes, of course I can," he said before getting up to walk out, before he left he stopped and started, "Don't let the past repeat itself Ozpin." then walking out of the room.

Weiss looks out into the distance from her bench and puts away her phone.

"Don't worry, Weiss, she'll be fine, you have people, your people will fix everything." She said to herself before looking down on her hand, which is completely burnt, just as functional as before but with a darker tint to her skin. She flexes her hand by opening it and closing it over and over. "Roman. Will. Pay."

"That's all well and good but I still need confirmation." Oobleck said, reminding Weiss he was there.

"I know, that's what the call was for, the new uniforms will be fully paid for." Weiss answered with little interest.

"Understood, hope for the best, if the uniforms turn out well, we may be implementing a new club with them, one for acting out more invasive missions to hunting down things like White Fang." Oobleck hinted with a faint smile.

"Sounds brilliant, I'll be happy to see it happen." Said Weiss with legitimate interest.

"Ruby?" Roman said while looking at the files he retrieved a week ago and smoking some new found cigars at the base of a tree.

"Yeah Roman?" Ruby said while picking berries from a bush.

"There's something odd going on in these papers." Roman said as he pulled one of them out. "Come on read this, I highlighted it." He finished before handing it to her.

"Let's see," Ruby said as she began to read it out loud, "Ozpin ask for the third time if I would be willing to test the design for myself and push its limits, I said no again but after all the politicians I knocked off for the guy I'm really wondering what his motivation is for… militarization… of the students…" Ruby almost fell over after reading that.

"The world isn't as innocent as I they tell ya kid. Even the Pinhead has got a trick up his sleeve." Roman said, blowing out smoke leaning his head back.

"But why?" Ruby said as the world tinted darker in her mind.

"Why does it matter? The world is full of liars, the point is simply to remove the bad ones." He said while looking dismissively at Ruby's melodramatics.

"I need to talk to Ozpin." She then stood firm and looked to her right.

"You need to find kitty." He said as to remind her of the mission, leaning forward and pulling a map out of his pocket.

"You're right, how long is that gonna take?" She looked over his shoulder and at the map.

"We'll be leaving tonight, we've already clunked enough heads together to find where she's keeping her, it's another warehouse, shockingly close to the first headquarters we had, expect some heavy resistance, and possibly Cinder herself, and chances are that she's stretching her for info on the White Puppies." He pointed at the important areas on the map as he spoke.

"I'm ready when you are." She opened up Crescent Rose.

"That a girl; you're learning." He said with a genuine smile.

"I have a mission." She said with venom.

"Don't let it get to your head, kid." He said with a more serious tone than usual.

'_The last thing we need is you killing the bitch when we get there, it would throw the balance in this city way off its rocker.' _Roman thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 5: Sanity Breaking

It was a dark night and the moon was full and shattered, the world seemed colorless under its dull glow. Tonight was the night that Ruby rescued Blake, no, that Ruby and Roman rescued Blake. The two were walking up the street towards the location of Cinder and her goons.

"Are you ready for what we planned?" Roman stated with a hint of a hushed tone.

"Yeah." Ruby answers briefly before disappearing in rose petals.

Roman proceeded to walk into the building, cautious and ready for anything that came his way. The warehouse was empty, crates here and there the only thing blocking his vision of the large room, one light hanging dangerously low and lighting a single table was all that stood as reference to just how large the location was. As he walked towards the table, two figures stepped into the light, setting down three tea cups.

"We've been waiting, have one." Mercury stated, his statue like posture demanding attention as he spoke.

"We have a lot to talk about, Thief of Vale." Emerald said with the grabbing and sipping of her cup.

"I think we can assume that we know what each other are about to say don't you think?" Roman asked in a sardonic manner, the same time flipping his cane as to be holding the rifle end.

"You're not going any further, we still need our pet." Mercury said with venom.

"You're not getting the point, are you?" Roman said as he looked between the two with his eyes.

"What point, we're even offering you tea, just sit down, relax, don't worry about the Faunas girl." Emerald said, being rather blatant in her tone that she wanted nothing to do with Roman.

"For starters, you should get a return on this tea..." Roman said, eyeing it up as if to see if it was poisoned.

"Why?" She answered.

"This is a new flavor, it has a tendency to cause impairment of vision when applied with sufficient," Roman then swung his cane, looping it around the cup and catapulting it into Mercury, scolding his face and eyes. "Force!"

"Ruaah!" Mercury screamed and fell to the floor in agony.

"Mercury!" Emerald yelled and then drew her blades on Roman, "You bastard!"

Roman replied by aiming his Melodic Cudgel at her with great care upon her head.

"Quite possibly."

Meanwhile, Yang was walking out of the dorms in a new uniform, the boots black, the pants black, the coat black, but a scarf around her face in gold, metal bands scattered symmetrically throughout the uniform to tighten it to her form and a utility belt full of dust cartridges around her waist.

"You said I could go as long as I test this new suit on any challenges right?" she said while tightening her Ember Celica into her wrists.

Ozpin, standing next to her as she mounted her bike answered her.

"Of course, but be careful, it's not quite complete, the power might be too much for you to control at first."

"Makes sense…" _"Ruby, your big sis is coming."_

Meanwhile, Ruby appeared at the back window, looking through and seeing Romans fight in the distance as well as a cage behind the boxes, but after jumping down, what she finds isn't pleasant. Blake was hanging from the top of a round cage by her wrists, both of them scolded beyond repair, her body covered in burns the size of hand marks, her naked flesh riddled with bruises and a mixture of coughed up blood and shred marks from a whip or otherwise purposeful weapon of the flame-wielder. Blake herself was barely awake, her toes hanging only a centimeter from the floor. A puddle of her own blood lied beneath her.

"Blake! Blake tell me you'll live, tell me you'll live!" Ruby shouted in panic at the image she saw before her.

Blake coughed up more blood, stomach acid beginning to tint it darker as she gathered herself to talk, "Ruby, help me, I, tried…" She then passed out of blood loss. Ruby scrambling to find a way into the cage before simply blasting through the cage with Crescent Rose.

"This, is not, the end." She said as she tugged at Blake's shackles and ripped her down, both falling into the pool of blood. Ruby didn't lose hope though and continued to move Blake out of the cage, dragging the faunas with her own arms wrapped under and moving backward then dropping her against the cleaner surface outside of the cage and proceeding with CPR. She checked her pulse, there was nothing, nor was there breathing, so just did the chest compressions as vigorously as she could.

One, nothing, two, nothing, three, nothing; hope was being lost.

She tried giving her oxygen but she wasn't taking and the taste of blood was overwhelming. She went back to compressions, going for as long as her arms could bear, she tried, and she tried so hard. After some time, Ruby fell onto the body of Blake, crying and punching it, whimpering in the dark with the dead body of her friend. But with no hope in sight, the darkness absorbing her every thought, every action, every instinct, she picked up the body and started walking to Roman's battlefield.

"You're done Cinder! Your games end here, it's my turn to rule the city." Roman shouted, both of them facing down at point blank range of each other.

"Stop talking you infidel!" Cinder said before blasting Roman with her fire and burning off his hat, followed by him blasting three shots into the ground around Cinder as he tried to hit her slender moving figure. She proceeded to blast him to smithereens, firing gouts of flame at him with incredible speed, burning off his sleeves as he tried to protect his center of mass and melting his makeup off.

"I won't bow!" Roman said as he fell to the ground and was at this point simply scooting away from the gusts of death and heat.

"All things must come to an end Roman! That includes you, that includes your precious new goddaughter, and that even includes your lega-!" Right as she was about to make the final blow, her voice stopped, turning into a shallow gasp, her eyes shot open and she looked down as blood trickled down and out of her mouth. She saw only the large, curved blade of Crescent Rose impaled through her.

Running entirely on adrenaline, she turned her head to see the body of her pet fall in front of her dead, and looking up, saw the visage of hell itself. Ruby's eye's blood shot, her grasp on her blade deft and strong, her smile edging its way across her face as the voice of despair worked itself into her head and tore away her sense of fear, of conscience. In complete silence she pushed the woman to the ground and began to twist the blade inside her body, destroying any chance of survival.

"Ruby! No! Don't give in!" Roman grabbed onto her arm and was quickly frightened into letting go as she gave him the same look she gave the world. "Don't turn out like me." He said, leaving the building in a hurry as to find a plan in safety.

A moment later Yang arrived at the door of a warehouse, her bike skidding to a stop, immediately pausing in disbelief at the scene she saw, her sister, surrounded by flames of a burning building, covered in blood, standing in the mists of two desecrated bodies, one of them her friend. The smell of death wreaked heavily all was beyond the stability of the blonde teen's sanity when she saw Ruby turn around… and smile at her, a single tear caressing her child like face. Everything went black.

"_Ruby? What are you doing here?"_


	6. Chapter 6: This Guilt

The two sisters stared intently at each other, the cold night air being swept away by the heat of the fire.

"Ruby? Why would you do this? Did you, did you really kill Blake?" Yang was trying her best to hold herself together, slowly taking one step at a time towards her younger sister, bending her knees to seem smaller, less frightening.

Ruby started to sob, her bloodlust and frustration easing, and as she was realizing her surroundings she began to panic. _"Did I do this?" _She thought to herself as her eyes darted between the two bodies, realizing quickly that she was holding Blake by her neck. _"Shit! I did this, oh god I did this!" _Her thoughts quickly began to be overrun with this thought. "No… Get away…" She finally said before dropping the body with a loud, wet smacking sound onto the concrete.

"Oh no, Ruby! Please don't run! We can still fix this, we might be able to help you!" Yang started to walk faster, fearing her sister make a break for it.

"Yang, get away from me." Ruby continued to back away, loading Crescent Rose and folding it down to sniper form. Yang then jumped forward to grab Ruby, but to no avail, the rose petals falling around her told Yang what had happened, she had no possible way of catching up to Ruby's immense speed, but she had to try.

"Ruby! I'm coming!" She yelled and then jumped from box to box before reaching the same window and seeing Ruby in the distance. She was aiming her rifle back at Yang.

"Get away from me! I'm a monster!" Ruby said before daring to fire a warning shot at her sister. But as the bullet was about to hit, Yang put her hand up, the metal bands constricted in that arm and shot ice out that formed a shield, completely nullifying the shot.

"_Holy hell! Ozpin wasn't lying about this new uniform." _Yang thought, jumping down and following her sister, but Ruby was already outpacing her. The suit's bands tightened around Yang's legs, flame spewing from them and launching her forward and into the air towards Ruby. When Yang landed, she brought the momentum into a punch that Ruby easily parried, throwing her aside with no effort.

Yang threw shot after shot at Ruby, using her Ember Celica to keep her distance as Ruby extended Crescent Rose's scythe, cutting the shot's in half. Yang ran out of ammunition and resorted to blocking Ruby's scarily close bands tightened all at once and the suit glowing white around them as Yang gained in immeasurable amount of endurance to absorb the slashes.

"Ruby! Calm down! I'm here to help, it doesn't have to be like th-" The glow suddenly stopped and the bands expanded to release the spent cartridges.

"I said leave me alone!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs before hitting hang in the side with such force that she launched her into a wall and broke right through. Yang slumped on the floor unconscious. The warehouse behind them exploded as Ruby simply vanished, leaving only her signature rose petals behind.

Team JNPR decided that the best way to find Roman was to split up between the discussed locations and find which one he was most likely going to. Jaune in particular was standing outside a rather average looking one when he got a message on his scroll.

'_Roman was last seen coming from an exploding warehouse according to the police, warning, I heard Ozpin say that he may have seriously maimed Ruby, we don't know what's going on yet with that.'_ Said the message sent by Pyrrha. But just when Jaune thought things couldn't get any worse, he saw Roman walk into the bar through his translucent screen.

"_Gotch'ya"_

Jaune followed into the establishment and saw Roman slouch over the bar. Jaune sat at one of the less crowded tables and then waited for the orange haired man to get up and walk to the bathroom, him following in pursuit. As Roman entered, he simply walked over to the sink and splashed some water on his face, hardly noticing the blonde boy walk in and lock the door until suddenly, when he put his face down, a sickeningly loud _thwack_ was heard as Jaune smashed Roman's head over the faucet and the marble sink. Grabbing him by the throat and slammed him against the linoleum tiled wall, he readied his interrogation.

"What did you do with Ruby you sick monster!?" Jaune attempted to interrogate him, holding the man up with both hands. But in reply, all Roman did was laugh. "What are you laughing at?" Jaune said, starting to worry. Roman then coughed onto Jaune, making Jaune let go of him, dropping him onto his rear.

Roman laughed again, "Ha! You folks just don't get it do you?" He then got up, dusted himself off and got ready to walk out, grabbing his cane from its place leaning on the sink.

"You're not going anywhere until you answer me." Jaune demanded, stepping in his way.

"Speak for yourself kid. I give you credit, you caught me by surprise, but that's just it, a surprise only works once." Roman replied with venom in his voice.

"I don't care about that. Just tell me what you did with Ruby?" Jaune drew his sword now, expecting a fight.

"I didn't do shit to Ruby; the little angel went berserk last time I saw her, she killed my old boss, almost killed me, and I just ran. I ran for the city, and figured that when everything died down and I could no longer feel my face, that it would all be over and I could enjoy the night without much issue, maybe come back later and see if she was still alive." Roman, under all the bruises, the bleeding and the burn marks, was tensing up, but not from danger. The tenseness he felt was actually from the tidal wave of emotions running through his body right now. The pain, the loss, the shock, the exhilaration, the desperation.

The guilt.

He needed to find an outlet for it all, and if this little boy kept pushing him then it might be the last time the kid would get the chance as far as he was concerned.

"Why… Why should I believe you?" Jaune said, starting to doubt his actions.

"Fine, don't believe me, hell if I care." Roman walked next to Jaune, the boy shivering as the cold blooded criminal walked towards him and whispered into his ear, "Your hesitation will be your downfall." And then walked out of the restroom, leaving the boy in shock and confusion.

Back at Beacon, Yang had just arrived in the infirmary and Ozpin had immediately ordered a diagnostic test of her suit while she was resting.

"The cartridges needed fine tuning all right, their far to Dust consuming, and the flame jets need more power behind them. Are you taking note of this Goodwitch?" Ozpin said to his secretary instructor.

"Yes Sir, right away. But in the time in between-"

"Yes, I need you to assign posts directly to the adjustment of the student body to the new uniforms, the faster we can mobilize them, the faster we can eliminate any means of competition." Ozpin finished.

"Yes sir. Law is order, order is peace as you say." Goodwitch then sat on the arm of his chair and took his drink out of his hand.

"Goodwitch, what are you doing?" Ozpin looked at her and said.

Goodwitch then took off his glasses, "What I should have done a long time ago…" Then kissed the older man.

Ruby sat on the rooftops of Vale, watching her former school and home.

"I'm so sorry everyone, I failed you, all of you…" She said and then looked at what looked like an old couch someone didn't want to throw out and a T.V. flickering on and off somewhere near it. After a couple moments of contemplation, she decided to sleep there for the night, but as she thought to herself about her night, she noticed something strange.

'_One body was found in the midst of the fiery landscape of the Delphi Dock Warehouse, it seems that it had been used for quite some time as a stationing location for local drug run-' _Came from the T.V., Ruby looking at it in shock.

"I… Neither of them could have lived through that inferno, how could they…" She muttered to herself.

"_Cinder."_

Weiss sat in Beacon's infirmary wing, patiently awaiting her teammate to become conscious. Yang had begun to stir, and finally woke up.

"Where am I?" Yang said as she sat up in what looked like a bed, the only thing covering her being bandages over her stomach, chest, and right bicep.

"In the infirmary, for the second time this month." Weiss answered from the bedside.

"Weiss, Blake is..." Yang began, but couldn't finish, she instead grabbed her friend and pulled her in, proceeding to let out some very needed sobbing, but by the time Yang started to think coherent thoughts Weiss put a hand on her shoulder, "I know this is tough and all, I'm feeling the pressure too and am already doing things to fix this." she a couple moments later, lifted Yang's head so that they were looking into each other's eyes, "And at least we have each other… Right?"

Yang looked at the normally obnoxious girl, and for a moment, saw the maturity of the women she so claimed to be, and as she felt her tears dry for a moment, simply lifted herself until she closed the gap between them and their lips locked.

And then Weiss thought, _"Why did we need the world to fall apart to realize such simple things?"_

**AN: I want to note as Vol. 2 is coming out soon, that this story and it's plot were planned out before even the trailer had been released, and I apologize that certain things may not be canon. Please, remember to favorite, follow and review. The more you guys talk, the better this story will get. I want to ask a question; What should happen to Nora? Answer it in the review.**


	7. Chapter 7: Rape, Murder

The next morning, Roman got up from his cold corner in the alley. He made his way across the street hardly being careful enough and holding one side of his head with three fingers massaging his temple.

"_I've got to find Ruby, I have an idea and I need the little demon."_

He spent hours asking around for her, looking in every hub, and occasionally police department. He was in fact starting to catch some unwanted attention, the worst of all being in the market district. Roman had been searching for a pretty long time, but no one was showing any signs of knowledge, till it struck him, someone from her school might know her. And as he thought that to himself, a boy of appropriate age walked to the vendor within his sight, holding up a poster with her face on it. Roman, not able to think past his hangover, figured he would simply ask the boy what he had found out.

"Hey kid, where _did_ you get that picture?"

Ren looked back at whom he immediately noted to be Roman, "Why are you asking?"

"What do you mean? I lost the little brat last night and now I'm looking for her." Roman said, so clueless as to how that sounded to the boy he was talking to, he almost seemed innocent.

"Torchwick?" Ren said in confusion, wondering how what looked like a burnt up bum with a cane was the great villain.

"You recognize me? You must be a fan, here's my… Oh, I don't have a card." Roman said in honest jest.

"How are you a villain?" Ren said, now truly confused.

"Listen, I don't have time to debate philosophy with you, just tell me where you last saw the girl?"

"Nora said that Yang fought her last night sometime around the warehouse explosion." Ren said, regretting his actions as he spoke.

"Ok, thank you then." Roman began walking away until Ren grabbed his arm and asked, "Why do you need to know?"

"Little Red will die out there without me." Roman said before simply walking away.

_Back at Beacon..._

Yang got up from her bed, looking to her right and seeing the sleeping form of Weiss in one of the waiting chairs. _"She's the only one I have left, and she stayed with me for the entire night." _Yang thought to herself and then got up, getting dressed despite doctor's orders.

"Yang, where are you going?" Weiss said as she woke up to the sound of Yang getting dressed.

"I need to talk about Ozpin about getting back Ruby." Yang said, her head tipped down and facing away from her friend.

Weiss got up and rushed to her friend's side, "What if she doesn't want you to take her back?"

Yang looked up without looking at Weiss, cold eyes, angry eyes, staring at the door like it was her most hated enemy, "Then I'll take her in as a criminal."

Weiss was in shock at the reply, she grabbed yangs arm so she couldn't walk away, "Yang!? She's your sister."

Yang turned her head as to see Weiss with one eye, "And I'll do the job with a heavy heart, but I'll do the job."

Weiss was having a hard time staying calm, "But your still injured and she's more powerful than you as it is?"

"If I don't do it, who will?" Yang stated with the sting of a woman scorned.

"No one has too…" Weiss said, trying to be hopeful.

"And where's the justice in that!?" Yang answered in anger as she flung Weiss off her arm and faced her as she fell to the floor.

Weiss began to tear up at the sudden violence from one of her only two friends left in the world, "She's not that bad and you know that."

"She's a murderer Weiss! And I'm gonna put an end to it if I have to break every bone in my body to accomplish it!" Yang screamed at Weiss before kicking the door off it's hinges and walking to Ozpin's office, an aura of volatile anger emanating from her.

Weiss on the other hand simply sat there, and cried.

A few minutes later, Yang busts down the door to the Headmaster's office, "It's a pleasure to see you well, Ms. Xiaolong."

"That's enough of your bullshit, I'm finding Ruby, and you're gonna give me the means to do it." Yang said as she walked up to the desk and put her hands down on it.

"If you continue to act like this the people will go into a panic. Do you have any idea how much m-" Ozpin began before being rather brutally interrupted.

Yang bitch slapped Ozpin with enough force to snap a lesser persons neck, the echo dispersing through the room. She leaned down and said in a low whisper, into his ear, "You're going to take the most powerful version of that suit you have, and then you're gonna make it better, and then your gonna give it to me and I'm gonna fix this whole mess. Do you understand?"

Ozpin simply smiled back at her, "Fine, come with me." He then got up from his chair and walked to a closet, opening the door and revealing a suit in what looked like all gold and black, the chinese kanji for justice on the back in gold and otherwise looking fairly similar to the original she had. "This design has a direct feed to all the dust it needs, mind you, when you begin moving at those speeds with that much force, you put your body at risk. Are you willing to take such a weapon into your arsenal?"

Yang looked unphased, but inside she was cheering for victory, this was the tool she needed, and all she had to do was rough him up a bit. "I'll take it."

Ozpin smiled yet again and handed her the garment, "Good luck, and do be careful."

As Yang left the room Ozpin turned and said to himself, "Now that I have a tester for the suit, I can work out it's bugs properly."

Meanwhile, Ruby walked through the back alleys, _"I need to find Roman, he's the only one left who would understand me, who would help me without condemning me; but how am I gonna find him in a city this big? Surely the last time this worked out so well only because of luck. Besides, it's sunny out, so I won't be able to escape the alleys without people noticing me here. What if the police find me? I've heard horror stories about what happens to girls like me in prison. But I could just beat up anyone who does that to me right? Then everyone would be scared of me, I'd be powerful, people would respect me, I would have control over everything going on and could make or break every man, woman or child in there with me. It would be so relaxing, so easy, so… vile. I would be… the bad guy… Oh no I'm doing it again, I'm thinking these dark thoughts, I'm not a murderer, I'm not."_

This continued for hours, this self questioning, eventually she sat down further down the path, beginning to voice to a crowd of trash cans her thoughts, "I'm not a bad person am I? I didn't mean to do that, I only wanted to make things better, I only wanted to fix things and I… I killed her. No, I'm worse, I killed both of them and I hurt my own sister." She then pulled her knees to her face and began to sob.

"Hey, kid? What are you doing in a place like this?" Was heard before Ruby looked up to see that it was Junior.

"What do you want?" Ruby said before sniffling.

"Oh, you know what I want, me and my boys haven't had a woman to enjoy in a loooong time, and we figured that maybe a girl would do just fine." Junior said with a sinful smirk as his henchmen surrounded her.

Ruby reached for her Crescent Rose only to find it in Juniors hands, "No, you didn't."

"Yes I did," He held it up in it's default rifle form, "And unless you want this in you from point blank, you're gonna hold real still while we do what we want."

"No! You're not gonna do this, people will find out!" She said as she struggled against two of the guards grabbing her arms, and one of them grabbing her head and struggling to hold it downward.

Junior started unzipping his pants.

"Let go of her before I rip off those balls!" was heard from somewhere in the form of echoes before they all looked up and saw Roman.

"Roman!" Ruby yelled in hope.

Roman fired down into the crowd, using their close proximity to each other to catch them all in the blast. "I'm here for you Ruby!"

"Damn you!" Junior yelled as he aimed Ruby's rifle at Roman and began to fire. Roman ducked backward and saw the shots blow apart parts of the corner. "Don't let him get away!" Junior shouted to his men as Roman jumped through a chimney and slid to a stop on the bottom floor, meeting up with the henchmen getting read to climb the stairs to get to him. The first of them swinging at him only for Roman to grab his hand, flip him around and kick him so that his head slammed into the cinderblocks of the chimney top. The next three all aimed to fire and in the same split second, Roman grabbed the middle ones gun, pulled it into sight of the one on the left, letting the panicking henchman fire into his friend, put his foot into his gut and let his weight push the minion onto the ground with enough force to crush his vital organs and aimed to his right to fire his Melodic Cudgel into the head of the one on the right, splattering it onto the wall with the most violent explosion possible.

As the rest of the henchmen began to run and Junior opened the door to see what was going on Roman shot them each in the back, each one collapsing onto the ground and making a pool of blood and other liquids that ran to Junior's feet.

Junior quickly replied by firing the rifle at Roman, but Roman took the shot to his shoulder and proceeded to charge into Junior, knocking them both to the asphalt ground. Roman immediately straddled Juniors waist and raised his fist before they both grabbed eachothers throats, both choking, Roman began to punch Junior in the face repeatedly, slowly tearing apart every muscle left working in his other arm.

Junior began to lose his sight in all the blood and was having a hard time breathing so he started pulling Roman in with his hands as he choked him in an attempt to get him close enough to bite.

Roman, running out of air, and catching on to the mob bosses tactics, grabbed him by the ears and head-butted his nose.

The mob bosses hands lost their grip and his arms fell to either side, the blood was pooling as Roman then smashed his head into the ground until he heard a crack of bone.

Ruby on the other hand wasn't doing wonderfully either, as she jumped up and forced the one holding her head into the wall and then kicking him where it would hurt most, then running one into the other as she moved her arms in front of her with the two holding her arms, but as she lifted her head, a much angrier one grabbed her and threw her into the same wall. "Hold still you little bitch!" He said as he stabbed forward with his knife. Ruby quickly dodged to the side, the knife still managing to slice open her right eye and throw her into a blood frenzy. Ruby grabbed the man's hand to hold him there and used her other hand to grab the man by the teeth of his bottom jaw and pull him down until she could slam her boot into it's place, the man trying to bite through her boot and realizing quickly that it was steel toe, wasn't finished being torn apart by the girl though. Ruby took his knife out of his hand and used it to stab his hand and pin it to the wall.

Ruby began to smile as she supplied force to the screaming man's jaw as she heard his shoulder, then his elbow, then his jaw pop out of place, then his skin tear in all three places, then as she met the ground level, took her foot out of his mouth, punted his face easily hard enough to break his jaw to pieces. As she realized what she had done she started backing away.

Roman got up and walked to her, his face bloodied, left arm limp and said, "Grab our weapons, we need to get to the White Fang stronghold, they'll be able to fix us up."

Ruby simply nodded, suppressing a scream, both from her emotions and her eye. "Yeah, I'll do my best."

Roman looked up at a bullhead landing on the roof, "In fact, I think that's them now. Let's go, That thing's not exactly stealthy."


	8. Chapter 8: War Fuel

Ruby and Roman sat in the Bullhead, holding their respective wounds, both wanting to get some anesthetics as soon as possible. Soon enough, the same captain as had talked to Roman a week ago made his way into the back of the transport with them.

"Roman, you never said anything about a girl." The captain spoke with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I said I was bringing you a champion." Roman said with pride in the girl.

"Was this mess what you meant by that!? Do you know what kind of trouble I put myself through to pull this for you? Well!?" The captain said as he picked Roman up by his shirt.

Roman, in a calm and sarcastic tone answered the Faunes, "I'm so scared…" Only for the captain to notice Ruby holding Crescent Rose in rifle form at him.

"Put, him, down." She said with venom in her voice.

"Hmpf." The captain put Roman down and looked at her, "Fine, but we're gonna get our money's worth out of you."

As the captain walked out and into the cockpit Ruby hugged Roman, "Roman?"

"Yeah kid?" Roman looked down to her.

"Do you think I'll be able to see out of this eye ever again?" Ruby said while looking up to him with her one eye, obviously panicking in the way her pupils constricted and shook.

"..." Roman stood in complete silence, not knowing what to say to her he eventually settled with, "Don't get your hopes up." and walking away from her and sitting down in the opposite chair.

"Sorry…" She said before sitting down, staying quiet for the rest of the ride.

In the back alleys of Vale…

"This doesn't look positive Pyrrha." Nora said as she walked around the bodies of Junior and his Henchmen.

"Keep your eyes peeled for any evidence." Pyrrha said while crouching at one of the henchmen's bodies.

"Does this count?" Nora said as she picked up the shredded pieces of Ruby's cape.

Pyrrha's eyes went wide, "Oh no, that can't be Ruby's?"

"She's the only person I know with this symbol." Nora handed her a piece with her Rose emblem.

"Do you think she did, this?" Pyrrha gestured to the body of Junior.

"I really don't know a whole lot of people in Vale capable of it other than her." Nora said as she put her hands over her eyes like she was blocking out the sun and aimed her sight toward the apartment door. "But I think we should follow the blood trail to find out what happened here. Who knows, maybe they were fighting over some 'Scurvy-Dog's Booty'!" She giggled at her own joke as she tried to make light of the situation.

"I think I agree with you Nora, this place looks suspicious." They proceeded to walk into the building, following the trail of bodies and eventually exploring upstairs, "Nora! Come up here and take a look at this!" Pyrrha shouted down the steps followed by Nora showing up on the roof with her and taking in the surroundings, "I believe that these might actually be scorch marks from a bullhead, they left by air." Pyrrha explained as Nora looked around in the soot.

"Look, a footprint in the black stuff!" Nora pointed out while wearing a hat she found somewhere in the apartment.

Pyrrha looked at the print and immediately gasped at it in fear, "Nora, we need to tell Ozpin this right now! This isn't some murder mystery, this is a declaration of war, that symbol in the boot print is, it's White Fang."

"Oh, let's go then, it seems serious." Nora started her way downstairs again, followed by Pyrrha. After spending a couple more minutes of collecting samples of evidence, they both left for Beacon.

Weiss sat in the lunch room alone at her table, she was trying to think of a way she could gain back control over her situation, "I have to end this war before it starts." She said to herself in confidence.

Soon the loud speakers were heard throughout the academy, "All of Team RWBY and JNPR please refer to the training grounds."

Hours later, Weiss, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Juane stood in an arena surrounded by doors that smelling of dried blood and corroding oil. Each of them wearing uniforms much like Yang's first.

"How did the talk with Ozpin over our findings go?" Juane asked Pyrrha while going back to back with her.

"Terrible I'm afraid. He started to smash books around and shattered his mug on the wall, it's the first time I've seen him lose his temper." Pyrrha replied while placing herself in a defensive stance behind her shield.

Weiss stared at Yang, who was currently infuriated by everything at this point, "Yang, you have to calm down or you might get hurt during the Suit Tests." Weiss said with worry.

Yang armed her weapons and stood silent. Aura burning around her like that of a demons.

"Your test will now begin, commence battle." Was heard through the speakers. Followed by all the doors opening up to reveal an almost army of robots. As they flooded out of their doors, the fighters, all except for Yang, ran forward and fought them, each one eventually falling unconscious against the immense hoard. First Juane fell, taking a shot for Pyrrha. Then Nora fell, not noticing the ones behind her. Then Ren and Weiss as the both ran out of ammunition. and finally Pyrrha as her shield was knocked out of her hand and she fell to a knee, parrying the shots that came in on her with her sword until that too drained her stamina and she fell in exhaustion.

Finally, the mechanical humanoids aimed their weapons at Yang and fired, the bullets missing as Yang had at the last second jumped in the air, somersaulting and landing behind the hoard before screaming in uncontrollable rage, her fist simply puncturing and impaling the closest robot. As the rest of them gathered where she was, she moved forward with uncanny speed, dodging every shot and every swing as she opened up their insides with the efficiency of a can-opener. The last one was the flashiest though, as she drove her fingers through it's body in order to grab direct hold of it's spine, lifted it in the air, and as the Uniform activated she ripped the machine in two, leaving in her hand only a mechanical spine, covered in black hydraulic fluid and with a single optical camera tethered in only by it's ribbon cable which she subsequently grabbed and looked into, further mouthing the words in view of the camera, "I win." Before dropping to the floor and crying into the pool of Hydraulic fluid silently, still holding the spine in her hand.

"Test over." Said Ozpin as he began clapping from the other end of the room. "I'm impressed Yang, you may just be able to beat your sister after all." You'll be leading the charge against the White Fang."

Yang looked over, before getting back up, "I understand."

"Now grab your classmates, they require the infirmary."

Weiss, hearing this conversation as she came back to consciousness, began to crawl out of sight, and then snuck out.

"_I must end this catastrophe, before another friend dies."_

Ruby sat outside as Roman could be heard arguing with the White Fang leader, hours of fighting and screaming and the noise finally stopped, it seemed like they had reached a conclusion.

Roman walked out of the room and grabbed Ruby by the shoulder, "I got us in, but we have to put on a good show to get them to follow us, got it?"

Ruby went with him, "How are we gonna do that?"

"For starters, we get patched up. Then, we dress up. Then we just play the part and accomplish what we've both wanted all along."

Hours later, they both walk out, Roman walking out in what looks more slim fitting on him and with a much longer coat and the addition of a cape, the entirety of the rather extravagant outfit being hues of crimson and gold. Ruby's was much different, an eye-patch sporting a metallic silver rose covered up her bad eye, and an outfit with more of a furred theme took the place of the old one, all of it being black and white.

Ruby looked around her outfit, "This outfit reminds me of my mother."

"It suits you well Ruby." Roman said as he noted the strong symbol that her colors memorialized.

Roman and Ruby then walked past the changing rooms and through the curtains on to the White Fangs assembly stage, a legion of members waiting to hear what the near legendary thief had to say.

Roman stood to the side of Ruby and presented her with his cane, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you, our Champion against our oppressors! Ruby Rose!"

Ozpin stood at the microphone in front of the entire student body of beacon with a picture of Blake in memorial, "Students of Beacon, I present to you, our martyr against the parasites that haunt us! Blake Belladonna!"

Roman began pacing around the stage, "Day in and day out, we have been put down, destroyed, beaten within an inch of our lives in the middle of the streets, threatened with the death of our families and yelled at for simply wanting freedom. The crimes against us as people have stretched far beyond any decent standard, these are no longer bullies in our play ground, these are rifles aimed at the heads of our children!"

Ozpin put his hands up as if to symbolize the world, "We sit here, lying in wait for these thugs to bash down our doors and steal from our homes, to desecrate our private lives with their corrupt dealings and the world to burn only for the ashes to flow through our fingertips and into their wallets. These are no longer the bullies in our playground, these our rifles aimed at you children!"

Roman stepped up to the edge of the stage, "We must bring justice to those who have wronged us! And with me as your leader, it shall be served, and with us shall be the dark of night to wrap us in protection as we claim our prize! We shall stand for this no longer!"

Ozpin grabbed the mic and held it closer, "We must bring law to these savages that claim our lives and our possessions, exterminate the pests that have ruined our once great city, and with us shall be the burning hate of a thousand suns to etch our way back into the confines of the world we wish to live in. We shall stand for this no longer!"

"Tomorrow we cast war!"

"Tomorrow we cast war!"

**A/N: I apologize for the long wait, I just got done moving into my new house and finally got my internet working, please forgive me and I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I try my best at making it, I re-wrote this one at least six times before even sending it to my beta.**


	9. Chapter 9: Final Supper

Ruby stepped forward, swung around her scythe and posed for the crowd of faunes.

"Are you with me?" Asked Roman.

"Why should we trust you?" A single faunes shouted up.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Why would I help the same upper-class snobs that want me in jail?" Roman quickly replied before heading down from the stage with Ruby behind him, walking towards the White Fang commander and saying, "I have a plan for tomorrow night, I suggest we head towards the war room."

Midnight that night, Weiss touched on all her contacts.

"I can't believe him! He just used Blake's death as a political tool." Weiss said as she sat in her seat at the communications center.

"That's terrible, how has no one caught onto this?" Said her sister, Winter Schnee, "What do you need to stop them?"

"I need you to issue a transport of Atlesian Knights to Vale's southport, I need backup." Weiss said while messaging Pyrrha, "I need your help at the southport, we're gonna fix this, bring the rest of JNPR."

Yang walked back to her room to find no one there, her sisters homework still sitting on her makeshift bed. Blake's bed was still missing a mattress, as it had been torn apart during Romans attack, and no one wanted to move her things. She sat down on Weiss's bed and picked up a photo she kept of the Schnee family. Yang immediately began crying, the salt flavored water dripping from her eyes and falling onto the photograph.

She began to talk to herself, "Why did you do it Yang? It took the world crashing down for you two to find each other, and then you added to the landslide…" As she ended her statement and sniffled in an attempt to stifle the tears. The sound of rain was soon heard hitting the unfinished repairs to the room, the boarded up window failing to keep the water out, and the thunder following suite being easily audible. She placed the photo on the side of the bed and rolled into it, crying into the pillow as she drifted to sleep.

Her dream was a unique one however as the walls began to shift and the shadows of the corners rolled themselves up into figures. They said terrible things to her, claiming she killed her team and murdered all her friends, that she was just a loyal pet, bidding time so it could blame it's owner for it's sins. She was in turmoil, screaming for it to stop inside her dream, she merely mumbled the word "no" outside of it. The world was swallowed in darkness, and she fell to true, deep sleep.

"We need to get these soldiers into position now. Where should we put them?" Weiss said to JNPR as they helped her unload the Atlesian Knights from the boat.

"We should put them somewhere hidden before the battle breaks out." Said Pyrrha, trying to give some tactical advice.

"Based on the area's they'll most likely be coming from, we can expect the fight to be throughout the city, rather than any one location." Juane said.

Len put the last one down and shrugged in agreeance. Nora then drew a mustache on one and shouted, "This one is Frank!" only to be shushed by the rest of the group. Right around then the rain started, and with it, thunder, Nora becoming ecstatic and running around in it. "It's like a wonderful watery wonderland, anything can happen now." Nora said with enthusiasm.

The group soon found themselves split into groups while placing Atlesian knights around the Dust shops and other stores in association with the Shnee family trade. Communicating over messages, they talked casually, trying to distract themselves from what was going on, from their fears. Only yesterday they were students, yet today, the become rebellious soldiers, attempting to keep the peace in a city they called home. Even Nora, though she would never show it, was dissapointed in recent events.

Glynda walked to the window in Ozpin's office, "Ozpin, do you believe that we can do it? That we can bring order to Vale this way?"

"Of course we can, it's simply a matter of when, not if." Ozpin said as he spun in his chair to face her, "Between Yang and the support of Ms. Schnee for our new uniforms, losing isn't an option anymore."

"What if Ruby Rose is amongst their forces?" Glynda brought up to her employer.

"Then we'll swat her down first, spare the young girl the sight of her allies dying." Ozpin said with little actual conscience.

"I fear what she can accomplish when given an army." Glynda added in response, "After all, you yourself stated how good of a leader she was."

"She's not in the state of mind to give commands." Ozpin said turned and placed a hand on Glynda's shoulder and a finger on her lips, "Relax, I have this handled, soon we can forget about all this and sleep comfortably knowing that the world is in peace and Vale will no longer be threatened by terrorism." A moment later they embraced, believing that what they were doing was the only way to make the world better. They walked to Ozpin's room and retired for the night.

- **That Morning**

Ozpin woke up early with Glynda, the students being handed their new uniforms. The many hunters and huntresses were soon gathered and deployed into key defence positions sprouting from Beacon academy itself, forming with these positions a series of thirteen rings each one spread further than the last, amongst them were normal police, Vale kingdom National Guard and Citizens believing in the cause there to support the defense zones. The rain never let up though, nor did the thunder, the weather setting a mood of melancholy among the troops, what would have been both a diverse and formidable army was burdened down to a mediocre, yet still massive, force. At the same time, Faunes and other rebels in disguise were working backroom deals, peddling weapons and gathering momentum for the cause, making sure that in the end, the people would have them in mind.

Weiss and team JNPR were also doing things, trying to take hold of supply zones through trust and persuasion. Weiss trying to get a hold of Ironwood, as to gain his help in bringing peace to Vale. Roman was designing along with Ruby and the general as well, trying to find a weakness in the thirteen rings, then they found one.

"Here, right here. They have turrets here instead of troops." Ruby said to the general with assurance.

"What makes you think that's a better idea?" The general answered.

"We can easily have our more subtle troops slide past the turrets and cut down their dust supply, it would reduce the staying power of the Beacon force as well, the more dust we get a hold of or destroy the better." Roman stated in defense of Ruby.

The general glared at Roman, and was about to continue before he was interrupted by, "And the wood, and the roof tops seem oddly baren based on the earlier reports, we could send our strike teams over head."

The general responds with a growl, "I get it, what should we do with the Paladins, or the Bullheads then miss Champion!?"

Ruby starts to falter at the intimidation when Roman steps in, "What she means to say Sir Taurus is that you should send the Bullheads to occupy and capture the Beacon Airships and the Paladins should be used to hold the lines as we take territory."

The general stops and sits down, "That does sound like a good plan, I concede. What if the have plans against us though?"

Ruby speaks up again, "We can't plan every move, the best plan we have has already been formed, at this point all we can do is secure our resources and trust in ourselves."

The general looked to Ruby, "What platoon are you attaching yourself too?"

Ruby got up and turned to leave, "I'll be on the invasion force for the Bullheads. Call me when we're ready."

Roman got up after her and grinned, "I'll be going driving a Paladin, holding the line."

"Understood, accomplish your missions, at all costs." The general then turns away from them in his chair. "Ms. Rose, you better protect her." He said to know one in particular.

Ruby walked into the barrack room holding the platoon she was supposed to be working with, the whole troop all suited up in their armor and polishing their weapons of choice.

"My name is Ruby Rose, I am your champion, and will be attaching to your unit in order to accomplish my mission." Ruby said as she walked up to the group.

The lieutenant running the platoon got up and made her way to Ruby and put out her hand, "Welcome… Friend, please, make yourself at home, this may be our last dinner together."

Ruby shook her hand, stopping for a moment and looking up in an attempt to look through the mask, "You're, I think I know y-"

"We should get to that meal soon, you're letting the pre-war jitters get to you." The woman interrupted. They both sat down with the rest of their troop before beginning their meal, all of them briefly forgetting the weight of the uniforms they wore, all except for the lieutenant, who wore her helmet the entire meal, never letting her guard down, never forgetting her purpose.

Yang sat in the lunch hall, eating a similar meal, trying to visualize the battlefield, hoping that if something comes up on the airships that she can respond in time, trying to prepare herself mentally for the most stressful thing she would ever do. She finished her steak, and her soup, but she felt hungry still, but putting it aside to stay swift for the fight.

She eventually left and began walking out to the Airship marked 'Alpha-01' at the cliff dock.

"All people, head toward your posts, the strike begins soon, I repeat, head toward your posts, the strike begins soon." was heard on the loudspeakers throughout campus.

And so Yang entered the Airship to get ready for the inevitable.

Weiss finally got a hold of the Ironwood, "What is it that you need Ms. Schnee?"

"I'll be as direct as possible, I need an army." Said Weiss.

"You need what!?" Ironwood shouted in surprise.

Weiss gave a looked away then back again, "It's a long story, but an important one."

**A/N: I apologize for the wait, school started, and if I hadn't mentioned before, my Beta ditched me, if anyone would like to take that position, PM me.**


	10. Chapter 10: Sibling Rivalry

**As the sun began to set…**

Yang made her way to the drop pod area of the Airship, the wind swirling around her in a cascade of icy water. She eventually made her way inside and into the battle station, she braced herself in the machine and waited as the ship took off. She realized that she would be waiting a long time before she was to see any action, but that was a good thing, she needed time to think, to plan, and mentally; to prepare.

In the communications tower however, things were not going quite so well.

"So your telling me, that Ozpin gathered the city into a frenzy in order to point the peoples fingers at the White Fang?" said Ironwood, a hand on his forehead and eyes flicking back and forth in an attempt to find an answer to this apparent turmoil.

"Yes sir, and I'm asking for you to bring this up with the Atlassian government and see if they could end this terrible event before it leaves the hands of reasonable people." Weiss answered, desperate for help her stress could be heard within the cracks in her voice.

"I'll do what I can, but I'm afraid I'll be a little late, moving an army across the ocean is no laughing matter. Tell your friends there that we'll be moving by Airship into the territory and to stay away from wooded areas, we can't guarantee that our weapons won't catch the woodlands on fire. But more importantly, be careful Miss Schnee, your are an invaluable person to have as an eyewitness to the events that have transpired here." Ironwood finished before signing out, his professional attitude only preceded by his confidence.

"Well, that's what we have, let's hope we made the right decision." Weiss said to the group hiding out with her, getting up afterwards to pace.

"I'm going to be evacuating the area of civilians, are you with me team?" Juane said to the rest of JNPR, his very stature more confident than normal.

"Hmm." said Ren as he nodded in agreement, his eyes tired from the long nights spent leading up to this day.

"Of course, that's a splendid idea." said Pyrrha as she grabbed her equipment and stood up to go, a small smile on her face from seeing Juane acting more confident.

"Yay! I'll be the bodyguard." Nora stated with mallet in hand and excitement in her heart.

The group then headed on their way with maps in hand to all help people evacuate from the city before the fight broke out.

Although in some, more domestic places, it already had.

"What do you mean? I thought our lines were perfect, the fights about to start, what are they doing!" Ozpin yelled across the office to Glynda.

"It appears that our civilian troops are simply leaving their posts, nowhere to be found. The police force is looking into it, but if we devote any more manpower to the act of searching for deserters than we'll have to close down an entire ring." Glynda informed Ozpin of the situation. "We should break down one of the rings any way to bolster the next, it seems we may not have enough people to really have an effect on the enemy's front line."

"I agree, but if we collapse the line then we will look weak, we must hold it for as long as possible as to intimidate the scoundrels." Ozpin said with venom.

"I don't think that's a good idea-"

"Don't question what is already in play, we hold a full house right now, we can't afford to fold." Ozpin then leaned closer and grabbed Glynda, kissing her and then looking into her eyes, "Defend our pact, stop this invasion and create for ourselves a better world."

Glynda's eyes went from suprised to a sharp, menacing look, "I shall."

On the other side of the city things were going more smoothly, things were in fact, taking flight.

"All ships ready!?" The lieutenant shouted.

"Aye aye sir!" shouted one of the bullhead pilots.

Ruby jumped on and set up her position in the bullhead, "Let's get this party started!" she shouted with her scythe in the air as the bullheads, as well as the troops, began to exit from their stations and march towards battle. The winds stirred and smashed against the bullhead's armor plating, rain turning into hail, and hail turning into chunks large enough to draw blood. The weather as they had risen through the heights was terrible, but it kept them hidden from sight, the airships being so massive as to be a beacon for the White Fang pilots to head towards.

As the vehicles drew towards each other the airships began to fire upon them, shot after shot fired from large deck mounted autocannons. The bullheads started to take damage but only one fell, aiming itself towards the closest airship and crash landing into the deck and shredding apart. From that bullhead exited Ruby and half her platoon.

"For freedom!" shouted the White Fang troops as they exited the vehicle and began mowing down the surprised underclassmen. The students began to panic, finding cover wherever they could, focusing on ranged weapons in the swirling vortex of hail and wind.

"They have cover sir, what should we do?" The White Fang members asked their lieutenant, of which she answered swiftly.

"Follow me and Ms. Rose." she said as she shrank into the fog to get the element of surprise. The students panicked as they realized that the barrage had stopped.

"Rex?" one student said before looking to his left and finding his buddy lying against the cover dead, a hole in his chest. Next he heard the gurgled screams of his fellows left and right, some their throats slit, some bashed off of their own guns, some just gone entirely. "Guys?... You there?" The student had a look of absolute fright as the sounds of death surrounded him, he stumbled back into someone as he searched for safety.

"Right here." Was heard behind him as a sword was put to his throat, "Good-bye." and his throat was slit and he was left gurgling as the White Fang troop trampled him to death, sprinting to their next objective.

The autocannon was a large machine, guarded by more legitimate soldiers whom now knew of the enemies arrival. Ruby started to sprint further ahead, drawing the fire before using her semblence to zigzag across the battlefield, dodging every shot, and speeding towards the soldiers.

"Get her!" was shouted from atop the guiding platforms of the turrets. The soldiers followed their orders and shot at the black and white blur that was Ruby sliding through the mist. Eventually the troops stopped to reload, and Ruby took her chance, jumping towards the platform and slicing the first man in half, then spinning the blade and chopping the body to pieces, kicking each piece into another soldier, using the scythe as balance. The few that stood still through the initial assault pulled the pins on their grenades and tossed them at the girl. Ruby took advantage of the airborne can openers and used her semblence to create a powerful vortex, spinning and jumping simultaneously towards the group, pulling their grenades with and blowing a hole in not only them, but also the armor of the autocannon.

The grin across Ruby's face grew larger, her adrenaline was running and she was enjoying the fight, she wanted to see more blood, and by no means was finished. She jumped inside the hunk of machinery, the soldiers seeing her squating on the edge of the whole and began to run. A couple seconds later, as the White Fang force made their way behind Ruby, blood started to shoot out of the hole made in the autocannon and for a moment everything went silent.

"Ha! My troops got your little girl after all!" said the sergeant before the floor behind him exploded and his look of shock turned to get a glimpse for only a fraction of a second before his head was lopped off in a single slice. Ruby sat atop the turret in a crouch, both of her arms hungover her scythe on her back and her one eye could be seen staring a hole into the sergeant's slowly dying, decapitated head. Swinging down on the control panel with Crescent Rose and destroying all that was left to destroy, Ruby made her way to her next location.

Yang heard the screams of fellow students and soldiers through the comm chatter and her eyes shot open, she tore off the buckles of her DST unit and ran for the exit. She activated her uniform as she ran, making her way through the halls as fast as possible. When she reached the deck, the sight was almost too much to bear. She saw the smoking turret, filled with holes and covered in gore, the students gutted and left to drain in the terrible weather, the smell of death imminent in the swirling air was sickening, worst of all, some of them were still alive. She grabbed one of the students fleeing past her and pulled him up to her face, "What happened up there!?"

"We don't know, it looks like some girl in black and white, she's carrying around a bright red scythe, she's a monster, a monster!" he then struggled free and kept running. Yang quickly reached the deck to see that the lack of an autocannon brought a series of bullheads onto the ship, all of them emptying the area and taking hold of positions around the ship.

Yang roared as she ran towards the platoon of White Fang, but as she threw her first punch, she was blocked by Ruby herself, "This ends here Yang, I can't stand in your shadow anymore, I know who the bad guys are, and I'm not one of them."

Yang's eyes went red and she growled at her younger sister, following up her blistering anger with a punch toward Ruby's bad eye with the other fist, throwing her off her footing and then dashing forward for a flurry into Ruby's stomach and an uppercut to the chin knocking her further back, finally Yang attempted to ground her with a foot sweep only for Ruby to jump over it and fire in mid air, launching her backwards before she stopped herself with her scythe.

The lieutenant and other troops began to take aim at Yang. Yang noticed this only barely, the area's visibility reduced, she could only see their silhouettes and changed up her strategy. She jumped into the air, the straps tightened as her strength was doubled on impact with the deck, shattering the steel exterior and launching everyone including Ruby into the air. Yang, letting the suit enhance her own strength, again jumped towards Ruby in a full body tackle, landing into one of the ships wings, leaving a crater before Ruby dropped to the ground.

Yang gathered herself from earlier and walked closer to Ruby, "Surrender Ruby, you can't beat me, I'm better than you."

Ruby stood up and took Yang's hand. She let herself be lifted up and gave an air of defeat, but at the last second, instead of simply letting go,

"No, you rely too much on outside help." Then betrayed Yang's trust, swinging Crescent Rose around to catch Yang and throw her into the same crater. Ruby then brought her scythe to it's sniper form and shot at each of the dust cartridges on Yang's suit, each one of them exploding on her persons, leaving scorch and frost marks alike. "I have to bring freedom to Vale, no matter the cost."

Yangs eyes grew a deeper red and her semblance began to activate, but Ruby had planned for this too, and crouched in order to stay out of the way.

"Fire!" She shouted, and before Yang could turn the tables, a barrage of gunfire berated down on her, leaving no room to dodge, react, or for that matter, fight back at all. Ruby then ran for the main section of the ship as Yang slunked to the ground crippled, the light fading out of her eyes. The lieutenant rushed to the slunken over body of Yang and started carrying her back to one of the bullheads and securing her as a prisoner.

Ruby started setting the course of the airship for Beacon, hoping to end the battle earlier than expected. The rest of the airships falling from the skies one by one as they were defeated. Each one of them sending a cascade of violent fireworks into the sky, tinting the town red.

Meanwhile in the city, the bridges had all collapsed and the White Fang had already worked their way to the 6th ring, within only the first hour they had proven themselves to have many more supporters than were originally imagined. They had left so many fires that even the rain couldn't put them all out, and as the lights went out and the sun was setting, the town was lift up by fires and muzzleflash. Roman on the other hand was enjoying the excitement, the feeling of victory over his oppressors. He was in midst of combat against a squad of high ranking hunters, the Paladin unite was his greatest weapon against them, a mass of metal and death, it smelt of hydraulic fluid and sounded as if two fine china were grinding together every time it moved, but it was all worth it for the power he commanded.

"Bart! Strike the rear!" "Velvet, occupy him!" "Cardin, watch out for the guns!" was shouted by Professor Port, Coco and Dove respectively, each of them attempting to strike Roman in his Paladin, all of them failing.

As Bartholomew dashed from behind, Roman backhanded him through a wall, he simply kicked Velvet, and shot Dove instead, demoralizing Cardin as he planted his fist into him, crushing him for good. As Coco rushed the machine, Roman attempted to block before having his arm taken off by the attack, of which Roman replied by taking said own arm and using as a sword for which to swat her into the ground with. Professor Port then jumped onto the mech and began hacking at it's back before Roman simply opened the hatch and shot him in between the eyes, a maniacal laugh following.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin about, right here in Vale city square. Ha! They had it comin to em'!" Roman said before jumping back into his monstrosity of a vehicle and plowing his way threw every obstacle in his path, cars, railways, soldier, all to reach the transit area to Beacon. But standing in Roman's way was Glynda Goodwitch.

"Oh? Did you actually make it this far Roman? It must have been quite the challenge, but here it ends." Glynda said as she walked toward the machine and started to form her spells.

"Why? Because otherwise your little love affair with Ozpin might come to a gruesome halt? Shove it up your ass Glynda, he's using you, he's had you wrapped around his finger for years and hardly respects you for anything but a diligent worker, at that point you might as well be his personal slave don't you think?" Roman retorted with the most sadistic enjoyment in his voice.

"That's not true Roman, Ozpin, he loves me!" Goodwitch started to tear up at what the thief was saying.

"You never knew what love was Glynda, and you still don't, day in and day out I see you at his side like a loyal puppy, waiting for a biscuit that never comes. You may be loyal, but so is a horse. I hope you like sloppy seconds when someone else takes your man because you're too blind to see how he thinks of you; a tool!" Roman started getting louder as his speech went on, Glynda all but breaking down, about to attack with a rage she had never known when.

_Buzz-Krackle_

The sickening sound of four tasers being trained on the woman put her quickly out of use and left the road to Beacon open for all to enjoy. "Let's go boys, there's nothing to see here."

Ozpin sat in his office, waiting for what he saw was the inevitable. The door bent and shifted, the soldiers could be heard chanting their litanies of victory and the celebrations to come. He leaned back in his chair, took his last drink of his mug and prepared to clap. "Three, Two, One-"

The door slammed open, and threw it came White Fang, Ruby and Roman, all on foot. "Well done you two, well done." and so, Ozpin clapped.

**AN: Not finished with the story yet.**


End file.
